Sea hare diet...?

[McSassy]

I got a sea hare because they are known to eat hair algae...at least I think that's what I have. It's fuzzy and coarse...different colors ranging from vibrant green to dark red. The darker colors are very tough to pull off the rocks, but the green is quite easy once it gets long enough.

Anyways, the sea hare seems to be only eating film algae off the glass every night when it comes out from the sand (it burrows in there in the day). I mean it's great that it's eating and all...but I was under the impression that they had a taste for macro algae...not micro.

 

[greenbean36191]

There are about 30 different species of sea hares, all of which have different dietary preferences. Many feed on microalgae, and those that do feed on turf algae and macroalgae won't eat every species they come across.

 

[McSassy]

Very interesting. Can you tell me what species eats turf algae? The one I have is Dolabella auricularia I believe.

 

[drillsar]

Sea Hare eat constantly so unless you have alot of algae they can run out of food quickly there known to be used and resold for this purpose

 

[McSassy]

^ Well...I don't think I'm going to be running out of algae any time soon...it gets eaten and replenished constantly. I just want to know what eats turf algae. Is it part of my sea hare's diet or not?

 

[Elysia]

It seems unusual that a Dolabella auricularia would be only looking at your film algae. They are usually pretty good sea hares, as they are known to eat a variety of macroalgaes. And if your sea hare is burrowing, that would match with your belief that the hare is a D. auricularia.

Is your algae "clean"? Sometimes my macro will catch or grow less appealing algaes on top of them, like if the flow is too low. You might want to check that and maybe pass a powerhead over everything to blow any detritius off the macro.

Another thing you may want to try is adding a piece of red or brown unflavored nori to your tank. That might excite some sort of feeding response from the hare. I don't know if you will then need to continue to feed the hare nori, or if it might then begin to feed on the macros that you have in your tank.

 

[McSassy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15737677#post15737677 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Elysia
It seems unusual that a Dolabella auricularia would be only looking at your film algae. They are usually pretty good sea hares, as they are known to eat a variety of macroalgaes. And if your sea hare is burrowing, that would match with your belief that the hare is a D. auricularia.

Is your algae "clean"? Sometimes my macro will catch or grow less appealing algaes on top of them, like if the flow is too low. You might want to check that and maybe pass a powerhead over everything to blow any detritius off the macro.

Another thing you may want to try is adding a piece of red or brown unflavored nori to your tank. That might excite some sort of feeding response from the hare. I don't know if you will then need to continue to feed the hare nori, or if it might then begin to feed on the macros that you have in your tank.

Thanks for the thorough response. I have an MP40W vortech in my tank...so as far as flow is concerned I don't know what else I can do other than manually give the rocks and algae a little flush with a turkey baster I guess. It would be cool if I could put a pump in the tank and attach a tube to it and just give everything a nice little "dusting" every now and then.

 

[McSassy]

I just blasted the rocks with a baster...this turf algae is like a carpet! It just holds in a hold bunch of "dust" and collects junk it seems. I pulled out a handfull of it as well, but the red variant is like trying to pull a tree out from its roots...it's literally like glued onto the rock. How can I starve this stuff out? It's starting to get annoying...will a GFO reactor aid in getting it out of my display?